This invention relates to an apparatus which is adapted for adjustable mounting on boat motors for flushing and controllably introducing fluids into the cooling system of boat motors which have different sizes and locations of cooling intakes on the housing of such boat motors.
While it is old in the art to provide apparatus for connection to boat motors for flushing, the prior art flushing apparatus have either been too flexible or too rigid in their mounting on the boat motors. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,931,828 issued to Roger J. Lawler, U.S. Pat. No. 2,644,474 issued to F. M. Houchin, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,611,631 issued to O. B. Benson, are some patents which demonstrate some of the problems with the prior art.
If the apparatus of the prior art were too flexible, they were subject to slipping from the housing of the boat motor as the fluid is introduced to flush the motor, which is the case in such mounting devices which utilize the U-shaped clamp of the Lawler prior art. Other prior art which utilizes a more rigid connecting means to eliminate problems of leakage around the cooling intake ports while injecting the fluid into the cooling intake of the motor, is such prior art as Benson and Houchin's. But, by the very necessity of the rigid connection to the boat motor, by Benson and Houchin type connectors, the connectors must be adapted to fit a particular boat motor. Also, the cooling intakes are generally located in different positions on different boat motors and thus, the flushing device of Benson will not fit the boat motor adapted to receive the Houchin flushing device because they are rigidly connected in different ways and cannot be adapted for motors which are not set up to handle their particular flushing devices. Nor can these rigid connectors be adapted to fit on different motors because the cooling intakes of different motors are in different locations on different motors and have different size openings.
Also, in the prior art devices, the rigidly mounted devices are generally hard to attach and require a substantial amount of time to be mounted to the motor. Also, after the flushing of the motor, a great quantity of time is required to disconnect these devices from the motor. Thus, in all the prior art no provision has been made for a universal flushing apparatus which will fit a large number of different types of boat motors which have their cooling intakes at different positions and locations on the boat motor and can be readily and easily connected and disconnected without requiring large amounts of time.
Further, the prior art has not provided for a means of controlling the flow of fluid at the boat itself, and they have generally relied on a hydrant connection or faucet, which in many cases are remote from the place of flushing the boat motor. The problem with having the water control remote from the motor is that it eliminates the ability to control the flow of water while, at the same time, controlling the speed of the boat motor during flushing. This creates the problem of having to go from the motor to the remote faucet in order to adjust the flow of water to the motor speed at which the motor is being flushed.
Also, the prior art has made no provision for any means of introducing fluid or fluids or fluid additives for coating the motor as the motor is being flushed of the impurities which are picked up by the motor during its normal operation in lakes and oceans.